Mom gives birth on bus

GOSHEN, Nov 21, 2012 (South Bend Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
The driver of the trolley rushed to call 911 on Tuesday when a 22-year-old rider went into labor, but in the end, all the young woman needed was the calming presence of her 4-year-old daughter to safely give birth.

The day started in a typical fashion for Skylla Hurt.

The pregnant young woman had ridden the Interurban Trolley with her young daughter between Elkhart and Goshen most days to eat lunch at the Window, a food center for those in poverty.

She and Bonnie Sue got onto the trolley as usual Tuesday morning, but she quickly was struck with frightening pains.

"I called my doctor and told him I was having some kind of cramps," Hurt said from a hospital phone Tuesday afternoon. "So they told me to come into the hospital."
The woman rode the bus, hoping to make it to the hospital, but her new daughter, Autumn Dawn, couldn't wait.

The trolley was mostly empty. A woman riding rushed to her aid, as well as the bus driver, who called an ambulance, Hurt said.

She was in shock when the labor progressed rapidly, and it was Bonnie Sue who offered comforting support.

"She said, 'Calm down,'" Hurt said, so she did.

And then almost as quickly as it began, Hurt's new baby was born about 10:30 a.m. on the trolley in front of the Goshen courthouse.

The ambulance arrived shortly after.

Hurt and her daughter Bonnie Sue use the trolley to get to Goshen from her transitional living apartment in Elkhart, where she lives while she is working toward earning a degree from Ivy Tech Community College.

Jen Doty, the director of the iFit, Individuals and Families in Transition, received a nervous call from Hurt Tuesday morning while she rode the bus.

"I was called that they were not going to go to Window. They were going to go to the hospital," Doty said. "She was pretty frightened."
Hurt and her daughter have lived in apartments in the transitional housing program since August.

The woman is using the program's resources to get back on her feet and earn a degree.

"She is pretty special. She's a homeless mom that got into our program to be self-sufficient," Doty said.

Hurt remained in the hospital Tuesday, waiting for the all-clear from the doctors.